


Deductions

by cumberbatched



Category: Benedict Cumberbatch - Fandom, Sherlock (TV), Sherlock BBC
Genre: BBC, Benedict Cumberbatch - Freeform, Deductions, F/M, Flirting, Funny, Impressing Sherlock Holmes, Reader-Insert, Romance, Sherlock Holmes - Freeform, reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-12
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-12 01:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3339416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cumberbatched/pseuds/cumberbatched
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Impressing Sherlock Holmes is hard but your deductions seem to surprise the worlds only consulting detective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You had just walked out the doors of the hospital when you saw a tall man standing only a few feet away from you. You walked away from the entrance so you stood next to the man with the blue scarf and the dark coat. You searched your pockets and found your cigarettes but your lighter was gone.

“Excuse me sir. Can I borrow your lighter?” you asked the man standing next to you. He barely turned his head as he responded.

“And what makes you think I have one?” he asked.

“Well, whether you’re going to use it or not I am not sure but clearly you have one.” You answered and stretched out your hand. The man now turned completely as he reached down his pocket and handed you his lighter.

“How did you know?”

“Deduction.” You said smiling while handing it back to him.

“Please enlighten me.” He said with a smile almost as if entertained. As if he would only care to hear it to be able to make fun of whatever you had to say. Oh, yes you knew who this man was. The one and only Sherlock Holmes. 

“It’s January.” You simply said.

“So?” Sherlock said tilting his head a little to the left and narrowing his eyes.

“You’re standing outside a hospital which means there are someone in there you care about or have some kind of relation to anyway or you are just here on a buisness matter perhaps. My money is on the latter. You are obviously not leaving because you’re about a 100 yards from where the taxis are and you’re not headed to the parking lot either. I suppose you could’ve just gone out to get a bit of fresh air but it’s January and it’s freezing and you’ve been standing here for quite some time just outside the no-smoking zone.”

“How did you know?” he asked.

“I’ve been in the lobby and seen you standing here for at least ten minutes. That’s not cheating, that’s observing. Suppose you just enjoy the fresh and cold air. You’ve brought your scarf and jacket after all. But touching your lips and the fairly obvious nicotine patches indicates that you have been smoking before. You have obviously been doing good but with all your cases recently I’ve been reading about, no one would blame you for getting a bit stressed. Again not cheating. Observing. The stress would make any one buy a new pack and a lighter, no shame there. Although you are not like most people are you Mr. Holmes?”

You dropped your cigarette on the pavement and walked away from a slightly impressed consulting detective.


	2. Asking for help

It had been about two weeks since your encounter with Sherlock and in the meantime, something weird was going on. You had not heard from your best friend in over a week. You talked on the phone almost every day or at least texted and when Friday came, which was your usual “date”-night, she did not turn up. Therefore, you decided to go to her flat. You had an extra key so you locked yourself in when no one opened the door.

The flat looked the same. A half empty kop of coffee was still on the kitchen table, some clothes were thrown unto the bed as if she had gotten ready in a hurry and her favorite movie was on the table in front of the sofa next to a bowl of crisps. However, one thing was missing. Her. You decided to call her phone again. No answer.

It was on your way to work the next day that you decided you needed help. Your best friend was missing and you intended to find out what had happened. So after work you got into your car and drove until you had arrived in front of a black door with the number 221 B.

Moments after you had knocked on the door a small lady opened with a smile.  
“Oh hello dear. Are you here for Sherlock?” she asked. Strangers must arrive here all the time you thought to yourself.

“Yes. Yes I am.” You said trying to smile back at her. It came out a little forced but you expected she was used to that too.

“Well then come in.” she said and stepped aside allowing you to walk inside. As soon as you entered, you heard a violin play from the door on the first floor. “He’s upstairs. Just follow the music.” She said as she chuckled and walked through the hallway and entered what you assumed to be her apartment.

You went up the stairs and knocked on the door. The violin stopped and you took that as a cue to open the door. A tall figure was standing by the window with a violin still under his chin and as you took a step inside the flat, another man got up from the sofa and walked towards you with a stretched out hand.

“Hello I’m John Watson.” He said.

“(Y/N)” you said as you shook his hand. 

“And this is…” John continued pointing at Sherlock who had now put down his violin and were sitting in his chair looking at you.

“Sherlock Holmes.” You finished.

“We’ve met.” Sherlock told John. The room went silent for a moment until John spoke again.

“Alright then. (Y/N) why don’t you have a seat and tell us why you’re here.” He moved to sit in the chair opposite Sherlock and you dragged out a chair by the table and sat down in the middle of the two men.

“Well, you see, it’s my friend. She’s missing.” As you uttered the words, you felt tears gathering in your eyes and your vision went blurred. It was the first time you had actually stopped and considered that something really bad could have happened to her. Although you could hardly see, you saw Sherlock roll his eyes and you suddenly felt angry. “Could you just stop being an arrogant twat for a couple of minutes while you listen or is it a full-time occupation?” You shouted at him.

John looked a bit shocked at this outburst. Sherlock on the other hand just kept his eyes on you not saying anything so you went on explaining.

“It’s been 9 days since I last heard from her which is weird because I usually talk to her every day. The evening before she… went missing, she was on a date with this guy. She called me right after she got home and she was a bit, I don’t know, confused. This guy, Aiden, was really charming at first but then he started asking her all these weird questions about her job. And he… also asked about… me.” You finished looking at the detective who now looked intensely at you.

After a little while you asked: “Well?” Sherlock let his hands fall from under his chin and let out a soft chuckle.

“You’re the one who’s so brilliant at deductions. What are your thoughts?” he asked.

“Not everyone can be read as easy as you Mr. Holmes.” You said slightly irritated that he didn’t take this more seriously. 

Sherlock looked almost hurt by this and John tried to stop himself from laughing.

“We’ll take it.” Sherlock finally said.

“What?”

“We’ll take your case.”


	3. Helping Out

The warm water embraced you and you closed your eyes, as you were finally able to relax. You had spent the last two days in 221 B Baker Street helping Sherlock and John find your friend. After Sherlock took the case, you had refused to leave. What were you suppose to do? Just go home and pray to God that the detective would find her? No, you wanted to help. 

“Great!” you exhaled relieved smiling at the two men sitting in front of you. An awkward pause followed. You looked from Sherlock who was just staring at you to Watson who smiled and nodded awkwardly and back at Sherlock who now looked at you then the door and then back at you. “Oh, I’m not leaving. If some kind of psychopath has my best friend then I want to help.”

“That’s very kind of you but… “John Watson started but was interrupted by Sherlock.

“Fine.” Sherlock jumped up from the chair walking over to the door where he started putting his scarf on. “You can start by reading through the papers to see if any other people has gone missing in the last few weeks.” John looked confused up at Sherlock who already had his coat on. ”Come on John. We don’t have all day.”

Before you knew it both the detective and the doctor were out the door leaving you in their flat by yourself. You looked over at the table where a huge pile of newspapers covered most of its surface.

“Oh god no.” you took the laptop from the desk right next to you and walked over to the sofa. You started searching and found that three other people had disappeared from London in the last nine days. You were reading an article when you heard the front door open you looked over at the door as Sherlock and Watson walked in. 

“Is that my laptop?” John asked pointing at the computer on your lap.

“Yes.” You said smiling up at the doctor. “I just borrowed it. It’s a lot faster than reading through all of the newspapers.” 

“But how did you… It is password protected!”

“Oh please.” You said still smiling at the man. 

“Oh god, not another one.” He simply said as he walked out of the living room into his bedroom. You chuckled and read on. 

The detective sat in his chair looking at you. He wasn’t exactly impressed but he was close. 

“So what did you find out?” Sherlock asked.

“Three other people have gone missing in the last nine days. The last person went to a dry cleaner and never came back. That’s two days ago. ‘Rosie was just supposed to be pick up a suit and never came back’ her husband Richard, 51, says.’” You read from the article in front of you.

“What are the occupations of the three people?”

“A hairdresser, a police officer and the last one, Rosie, was unemployed.” You said before hesitantly continuing. “And uhm, Sophie studies art.” You forced the tears back, which always came when you had to think about your best friend, knowing that Sherlock would just see them as a sign of weakness. A chemical defect. Lost in your own thoughts you hadn’t noticed Sherlock getting up from his chair so when you suddenly felt an awkward pad on the back you jumped in surprise. Thinking that he had done something wrong he walked away and left you looking quizzically after the detective.

 

Someone bursting in to the bathroom suddenly interrupted your thoughts. By the shadow on the shower curtain, you could recognize the person as Sherlock.

“Geez Sherlock! I’m in the shower!” you almost screamed.

“So?” Sherlock said while pulling out a drawer. 

“So, get out!”

“Oh please. You can’t show me anything I haven’t seen before.” Sherlock said still looking through the drawer.

You stopped the water and got out of the shower. The relaxing moment the warm water had provided was gone. You stood right in front of Sherlock. He quickly looked at you than back down again.

“What are you looking for?” you asked him.

“Something.” He just said. Still not looking at you. 

“Do you have a towel I can borrow?”

Sherlock opened another drawer and pulled out a white towel, which he handed to you now finally taking his eyes off of the drawer and let his eyes wonder down your body.

“Thank you.” You said as you put the towel around you. 

“Nothing I haven’t seen before.” Sherlock said while turning his attention away from you again. But as you walked past him you could see his cheeks had turned a light shade of pink.


	4. Mr and Mrs Holmes

A week had passed since you came to Sherlock for help and you were still sitting on the sofa trying to find out everything you could about the disappearances. Every day after work you had returned to the flat determined to help the investigation even though it seemed to go nowhere. More and more people went missing but they didn’t seem to have anything in common. You let out a frustrated sigh as you read about a gardener who went missing the day before. He had gone out for a drink and when he still hadn’t returned the next morning his wife had reported him missing. None of the people knew each other and none of them had the same job.

“Where’s John?” Sherlock asked as he walked into the living room.

“He went out about half an hour ago.” You answered not looking up from the screen.

“But I just talked to him.” Sherlock said mostly to himself.

“Yeah, well, you do that a lot.” You said smiling up at him.

“Then you’ll have to do. Grab your jacket!” Sherlock said already in his coat.

“Where are we going?” you asked following the detective out of the door. You didn’t get a reply. Instead, he hailed a cab and opened the door for you gesturing you to hop in. Just as you got in you felt your phone vibrating and you looked at the caller. You were shocked to see that it was your dad calling. You hadn’t talked to him in years and for a good reason so you clicked ignore. 

The cab ride to – well, you didn’t exactly know where although you had a pretty good idea – was spent in silence. Sherlock stared out of the window in deep thought and you knew better than to disturb him. After about twenty minutes, you and Sherlock stood outside a small, brown house with an impressive front garden. All kinds of flowers coloured all four sides of the house. A majestic old pear tree stood to your left. Its branches kept the sun away from the white bench, which stood underneath it. 

Sherlock walked up to the front door of the house and you followed. The door opened not even five seconds after Sherlock had knocked. An older woman, probably in her late 50’s, stood in the door looking at the two of you. 

“Yes?” she asked with a weak voice, which indicated she had been crying.

“Hello Mrs. Collins. My name is Sherlock and this is my wife (Y/N) we are friends of your husbands.” Sherlock said putting an arm around your shoulders. Even though you were quite surprised, you didn’t let it show and leaned into the embrace instead. Something that also seemed to surprise you was how comfortable it actually was. 

“Hello.” You said smiling at the woman. She smiled back at the two of you and invited you inside. “Oh, please. Do come in.” she said stepping aside to allow you into her home.

As you stepped into the living room, you couldn’t help but notice how impressive the inside of this house was in comparison to how modest it looked from the outside. The designer furniture was simple yet elegant and classy. The flowers in the windows were kept nicely, the tables were kept dust-free and so was the floor. Nothing was out of place. Clearly, Mrs. Collins used as much time making sure the house was perfect as Mr. Collins used in the garden.

“So, how do you know Frank?” she asked as she sat down in a chair while motioning you to sit down on the sofa in front of her. You saw Sherlock’s eyes quickly scan the room – probably making a deduction – as the two of you sat down his hand resting on your knee. 

“We met in the same bar one night when we first moved here and this one,” he said smiling at you while giving your knee a squeeze “is crazy about gardening, aren’t you sweetheart? Frank was so kind enough to show us some of the gardens he has worked on.” Sherlock finished smiling at Mrs. Collins. You were quite impressed. You had never seen Sherlock act like, well, like a normal person. 

“Sounds just like him.” Mrs. Collins said smiling though it never reached her eyes. “He loves his work. Though he hasn’t been able to find work for a long time now so he had to make due with our little garden.”

Sherlock squeezed your leg again although this time it wasn’t to show affection. You looked up at him and you could see that something had changed in his eyes. His mind was racing, so you took over the conversation with the woman opposite you. 

“Yes, it so hard to find work these days but the garden sure looks lovely Mrs. Collins.” You told her and smiled. 

You could feel Sherlock getting restless so to avoid an awkward exit where he would storm out of the door leaving you, you improvised. “Honey, are you feeling okay?” you asked him reaching up to feel his forehead. At your gentle touch he turned his head and your eyes met his. “You’re burning up. Why didn’t you say you weren’t feeling well? I’m sorry Mrs. Collins I think I better get this one home.” You said as you stood up dragging Sherlock with you.

“Oh, that’s quite alright.” She said. “Every time Frank is sick I have to drag him to the doctor. You better get used to it.” She chuckled.

As you and Sherlock turned around the corner, he hailed a cab and said, “I’ll take this one alone.” Leaving you alone on the sidewalk.


End file.
